


If You don't have the Bravery to Confess to your Crush, Store-Bought is Fine

by neonstardust



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: After School Mix-Ups, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Same School, Aphrodisiacs, Cat Shifter Kuroo Tetsurou, Demon Hinata Shouyou, Don't Let The Tags Fool You This Is Safe For Work, F/M, HQ Monster Lovin Weekend, HQ Monster Lovin Weekend 2020, Love Confessions, Love Potion/Spell, Monster Romance, Werewolf Kyoutani Kentarou, Witch Yachi Hitoka, Witch Yahaba Shigeru, Witch's Familiar Kuroo Tetsurou, Yachi Hitoka-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27337543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonstardust/pseuds/neonstardust
Summary: Yachi adds a heart to the letter and then scribbles it out. No, she can’t have hearts on a confession letter. He’ll think it’s cheesy or too over the top or cliché.Sighing, she leans back in her chair. She’ll never get anywhere like this. If only there was some way she could magically get together with Kyoutani.Yachi blinks. She looks down at her pen, which has been magically enchanted to never run out of ink, to her notebook on magical incantations. Oh, right.Bolting from her chair, she grabs her spell book. Magic may be just the solution she needs!
Relationships: Kyoutani Kentarou/Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40
Collections: An Asexual's Guide to Monster Lovin Weekend: Because Maybe Hot Monsters want to be Called Beautiful Monsters Just One Time





	If You don't have the Bravery to Confess to your Crush, Store-Bought is Fine

**Author's Note:**

> HQ Monster Lovin’ Weekend - Prompt: Aphrodisiacs

_Focus_. Yachi needs absolute, undivided focus to make this plan work. Everything is going smoothly so far. She has all the ingredients. Bubbles rise from the cauldron, steady and controlled. He will be arriving soon. She just needs to add the final touch, and she’ll be ready.

She can do this. Tongue peeking out of the corner of her lips, she raises the eyedropper as steadily as she can. She is focused. She has complete concentration. She—

“Yachi-san!” Hinata crashes into the classroom.

She shrieks. The eyedropper goes flying. Scrambling to catch it, she slams her knees into the table, and she winces. “Ouch.”

“Oops.” He scratches at the back of his neck. “Sorry, Yachi-san.” 

Yachi looks over the equipment carefully. Sighing in relief, she says, “It’s okay.” Nothing broke, this time at least. That’s always a success with Hinata. “What’s going on?” she asks.

“I passed my Latin class.” Rushing over, he slaps the test down on the table. A passing grade decorates the quiz in bright ink, but it pales in comparison to his beaming smile. “It’s all thanks to you!”

“Give yourself more credit. You studied really hard,” she points out. Of course, it took the combined efforts of Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, and herself to get him to study all weekend. She never thought a demon of all creatures would struggle with Latin. Still, none of that makes his success any less worth celebrating. 

“Thanks! Oh?” He looks into the cauldron, wrinkling his nose. “What’cha making?” Moving closer, he tries to sniff the potion.

Yachi quickly pulls him back. “Not too close,” she warns. Glancing around, she stands on her tiptoes to whisper, “It’s, um, very potent.” 

“You two look up to no good.” 

They both jump. Whipping around, she finds Yahaba watching them with narrowed eyes. 

Hinata shrinks behind her. “We aren’t doin’ anything,” he says.

Yahaba raises an eyebrow. 

“What do we have here?” Kuroo asks as he steps into the room. “Two troublemakers?”

Slipping beneath Hinata’s arm, she tries to hide behind him. The situation is getting out of control. She hasn’t even finished the potion yet, and it’s already getting her in trouble. She’ll be arrested before sunset at this rate. Who will feed her cat if she gets a life sentence in prison? 

Kuroo leans down to examine the contents of the cauldron. “Oho?” A smirk curves his lips, bordering between curious and mischievous. His tail swishes lazily behind him. “Is this what I think it is?”

“What is it?” Hinata looks inside, too. 

Yahaba’s eyes widen. “That’s a love potion.” 

“It’s not,” she shouts. The eyedropper is still in her hand, and she shoves it behind her back. “It’s... It’s a... Um...” She looks around frantically. 

“A love potion,” Kuroo finishes for her, and she pales. 

Hinata tilts his head. “No, it’s not. That’s illegal. Yachi-san doesn’t do illegal things.” 

The eyedropper is snatched out of her hand. Her stomach drops. She tries to grab it, but Yahaba adds it to the cauldron before she can stop him. Inside, the bubbles turn pink. The scent of roses blooms throughout the room. 

Kuroo watches her like a cat stalking prey. “Not a love potion, huh?” A wide smirk stretches across his lips. “My, my, dabbling with aphrodisiacs, are we?”

She can’t breathe. She feels small, trapped. This is where her life of crime begins and ends. Dizzy, she sits down, her head spinning. 

Suddenly, Hinata moves between her and the others. “Don’t tease her. If she says it’s not a love potion, then it’s not a love potion.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“Hinata-kun,” she says. Like stepping outside into a patch of sunlight, warmth comes over her.

Footsteps echo a moment before Osamu and Kyoutani step into the classroom, and her hope crashes. A storm rains on her metaphorical sunlight. Covering her face with her hands, she mumbles, “Just take me to jail now.” 

“Don’t be dramatic.” Casting a warning glance at Kyoutani, Yahaba comes around the table. “No one’s calling the police, but you are getting detention when the principal hears about this,” he whispers. “What were you thinking?” 

Looking at her shoes, she mumbles, “I’m sorry.”

A hand lands on her shoulder, and Kuroo’s head bumps against hers. “Now, now, don’t forget the most important thing here,” he practically purrs. “Our little Yacchan has a crush.”

Hinata gasps. “A crush!”

“Shh!” She covers his mouth with her hands. “I don’t! Really!” 

Kuroo straightens up and wipes an imaginary tear from his eye. “Little Yacchan, all grown up and ready to date.” 

Yahaba spares him a disgusted look. “I’m telling the principal.”

“You can’t,” Hinata shouts. 

Osamu turns around. Beside him, Kyoutani looks up from his sandwich, his cheeks adorably puffed out.

Yachi’s face burns. For once in her life, death doesn’t sound so bad. Osamu and Kyoutani are staring at her. Atsumu will hear about Yachi’s mortification from Osamu and tell the entire school. Not even Kiyoko will be able to save her from the humiliating rumors. The principal will expel her on sight, and she’ll be placed on a watch list for dangerous witches.

“Why’re you here?” Kyoutani says suddenly. His glare at Yahaba is venomous. “You’re too damn loud.”

“Watch your damn mouth,” Yahaba snaps. “Iwaizumi-san told me to come get you.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re not skipping practice again.”

Hinata looks up at Kuroo. “Why are you here, Kuroo-san?”

“Provocation,” he says with a grin.

Yachi has been provoked enough. This entire experiment is a monumental failure. Sighing in defeat, she reaches for the cauldron.

Yahaba grabs her hand, not unkindly. Under his breath, he hisses, “Don’t think this is over yet.”

“I know—Ah!”

Kyoutani yanks Yahaba away from her. “Piss off.”

Yahaba’s eyes flash. If Kyoutani’s glare was venomous, then Yahaba’s is downright homicidal. He opens his mouth to yell, but then an unreadable look crosses his face, like he’s just remembered something important. Clearing his throat, he straightens out his shirt. “Be on time for practice,” he says.

Walking past Yachi, he pauses. “Who were you planning to use that on?”

“It’s not like that,” she squeaks. “It’s for me.”

“You?” He and Kuroo exchange a glance.

Yachi nods. Not able to meet their gaze, she looks down and tugs at the hem of her shirt. “It’s... Well, it _was_ a bravery potion.” She chews her lip.

With renewed curiosity, Kuroo taps the cauldron. Potion floats upward. It swirls around them, bubbling and swirling in a rainbow of colors. He rubs a dab of it between his fingers. His nose twitches, and he flicks his ear. “I’ll be damned,” he mumbles.

“I,” she says, “want to be braver. But...”

Her blush returns, brighter than ever. They’re all staring at her now. Osamu watches her fidget while eating his onigiri as if this is nothing more than an after-school soap opera. Beside him, Hinata has somehow acquired an onigiri as well. Rice sticks to his cheeks, but he smiles encouragingly at her.

Yahaba watches impatiently. With a flick of his wrist, Kuroo sends the potion back into the cauldron, but Yachi doesn’t miss how he steals a beaker full of it and hides it in his pocket.

“I,” she tries again. Her throat closes up like a shut off valve. She can’t do this. Now that Yahaba has moved, Kyoutani is right beside her. He is breathing the same air as her. This is too much.

“Breathe, Yachi-san,” Hinata loudly whispers. “You can do it!”

Yachi shakes her head. She can’t breathe, and she certainly can’t confess what her plans were. Detention is the only path left for her.

“I’m sorry, Yahaba-san,” she forces out. Her heart can’t take this. Her brain can’t either, and her head spins with panic and lack of oxygen. “I can’t—”

A bottle of water slips into her hand. Yachi stares at it dumbly. Looking up, she finds Osamu already walking past her toward the exit. “Don’t hurt yourself,” he says. 

Yachi blinks. Like the snap of a rubber band, her mind clears instantly. This must Osamu’s fabled calming magic. She now understands why Kyoutani hangs out with him after school all the time. 

Kyoutani! She looks around, paling when she finds him still right beside her. Yahaba and Kuroo are waiting too. Heart beating hard and fast, she takes a step back, her flight or fight instincts taking over. This is too much for her. She can’t admit she was going to confess to her crush _in front of her crush_.

But isn’t this why she’s here?

She wants to be brave. She wants to be unflinching in the face of danger like Kiyoko. She wants to look scary people in the eye like they’re her equals just like Hinata. Her grip on the water bottle tightens. She wants to face her fears and give things her all, even if they’re embarrassing, just like Tanaka. 

Stepping forward, she sticks a spoon in the cauldron and pulls out a dollop of potion, mixing it into the water bottle. “I want to confess to someone,” she stutters. “And, um, when I started this, I discovered love potions and bravery potions aren’t all that different.” She sets the bottle on the table. Within it, the water swirls first pink then blue before settling into a deep purple. “I thought enhancing the bravery ingredients with love ingredients would make the final product work better.”

Kuroo stares at it in fascination. “That’s brilliant.” 

Yahaba is less impressed. “That’s still dangerous,” he grumbles. Shaking his head, he sighs. “Honestly, making a potion to confess to your crush?”

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t go weak in the knees if a girl did that for you,” Kuroo says. 

Yahaba’s face reddens. “Shut it. “

Yachi giggles. There’s something comforting in not being the only one embarrassed over such little things. Her chest feeling a little less like its overflowing with butterflies, she starts moving her supplies into the sink to be washed out. “I’ll dispose of the potion,” she says.

“Good.” Yahaba drums his fingers on the table. “Although, I guess the principal doesn’t have to know, since you weren’t gonna use it on another person.” 

“Really?” Her face lights up with a smile. “Thank you!”

Hinata runs and hugs Yahaba. “I knew you weren’t as awful as Shirabu-san says.” 

He struggles to push Hinata away. “What the hell has he been saying about me?”

Hiding her laughter behind her hand, Yachi risks sneaking a glance at Kyoutani. She wishes she knew what he was thinking. He’s glowering at the potion, his shoulders stiff. Any reasonable person would think he’s angry. 

He’s not, though. She had thought he was always angry when she first met him. His face is scary, and he’s generally not in a good mood. Being a werewolf isn’t good for his reputation, either. But he was gentle with the animals when he assisted the class in choosing familiars. The only fights he’s ever been in are the ones where he’s stepping in to end them before someone gets hurt, and when Yachi’s spell backfired in the library, scattering books everywhere, he was the one who grabbed the dictionary out of the air before it could smash into her face, risking his own safety when he has no magic to defend himself.

He’s kind. Just the thought of him makes her smile.

“Oh no.” A look of absolute horror washes over Yahaba’s face. “No.” He drops his head into his hands. “You’re joking.”

Yachi freezes.

Kyoutani glares. “The hell’s your problem?”

“Everything.” Yahaba rubs his temples. Grabbing the bottle off the table, he hands it to her. “I don’t know what terrible thing I did in a past life that you like... that person... of all people,” he says, “but here. You’ll need this.”

“Uh...” Her face burns. Embarrassment hits her like a wave of water, soaking her in mortification from her head to her toes.

“I need to lie down. I have a headache.” Yahaba snaps his fingers. Around them, the chairs are pushed beneath the desks. The ingredient bottles fly off the table and put themselves away on the shelves. The windows open, and fresh air blows in, diffusing the incriminating scent of roses. Kuroo tries to grab the cauldron, but Yahaba’s magic is faster, sweeping it into the sink and dumping out its contents.

She doesn’t know if she should thank him or apologize. This day has become a whirlwind of confusion and fear. Toying with the lid of the water bottle, she’s torn between going forward with this idea and going back to the drawing board for a safer, less likely to get her sent to jail kind of plan.

The bottle is snatched from her hand.

“Huh?” Yachi tries to take it back, but in less than a second, Kyoutani pops the lid off and drinks it.

Hinata lets out a startled sound like a bird falling from the nest. Kuroo’s jaw drops. Yahaba walks face first into the door.

Yachi doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s lost all connection to the physical world. Her head is floating among the clouds, in outer space, far, far away from whatever is going on in this classroom, because Kyoutani Kentarou just voluntarily drank her not-love potion. She thinks she’s going to faint.

Kyoutani looks at her. “I like you.”

“Huh?” Legs weak, she collapses into her chair just as Hinata pulls it out for her.

Clicking his tongue, Kyoutani sets the empty bottle down and walks away.

Yahaba yanks him back by the collar. “What the hell was that?” he shouts.

Kyoutani shoves him. “Screw off.” His fingers bunch up Yahaba’s shirt, and they stare each other down like feral dogs.

“Now, now.” Kuroo squeezes each of their shoulders. “If not for us, at least give poor Yacchan an explanation.” Making an explosion hand motion next to his head, he says, “You may have broken her.”

He scowls, but Kyoutani reluctantly releases his grip on Yahaba’s shirt. “I didn’t want her confessin’ to some other guy before I confessed to her,” he grumbles. 

Now she really feels like she’s in outer space. The air has been sucked out of her lungs, and her heart is pumping solely on fumes. It’s like being color blind and trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. The words are right there in front of her, but her brain can’t piece them together. Kyoutani? Confessing to her? That’s not possible. She must’ve fallen asleep studying again and entered a world straight out of one of her daydreams. 

But Kyoutani’s still standing there, and there are no scary monsters or storms raining candy or anything else from a dream. This is real. She clutches her chest. Kyoutani really confessed to her. 

Pushing past Yahaba, Kyoutani walks out. 

Yachi chases after him. “Wait!” 

He stops. His gaze burns, and she shrinks back, her brain catching up with her. What has she done? The hallway is full of people staring at her now, not just Kyoutani, and she didn’t even think to drink the bravery potion before she ran out here.

No, she can’t do this. She clenches her fists. She can’t let him walk away thinking his feelings aren’t reciprocated!

“It’s you,” she blurts out. “I made the potion for you. I mean, for me to confess to you.” Her stomach has reached maximum butterfly capacity. She’s shaking like a leaf, as if her heart is beating so loud it’s rattling her entire being. Forcing down a deep breath, she says, “I like you, too!”

Silence. Yachi covers her face with her hands and waits for the students to throw tomatoes at her. It would be fitting; she’s already as red as a tomato, she thinks bitterly.

Someone pats her head. Peeking through her fingers, she finds Kyoutani right in front of her, a blush burning his cheeks.

“Our little Yacchan,” Kuroo sniffles. “All grown up.”

Beside him, Yahaba seethes, “What the hell fantasy is this that _she likes him back_?”

“Way to go, Yachi-san!” Hinata shoots her a thumbs-up.

She doesn’t know whether she should laugh or cry. Her chest feels too full and too empty all at once, like the butterflies have finally been released. So caught up in the challenge of confessing, she never really thought about what comes after, and based on the look on Kyoutani’s face, neither did he.

A shy smile reaching her lips, she takes his hand. Maybe it’s okay to not know. With or without potions or plans, at least they now have this. As Kyoutani flashes her the barest hint of a smile, the most she’s ever seen from him, she knows she could never ask for a better way for this day to end.


End file.
